Home Is Where The Heart Is
by Toria
Summary: Harry stays with Snape the summer after fourth year and gets a few unexpected surprises about Snape's life.
1. Chapter 1

Harry looked around the room with disinterested eyes and idly opened the trunk, which held all his belongings in the world. It was the third day of the summer holidays after Harry's fourth year at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry and he had only spent one full day at the Dursley's.

He had been hoping beyond hope that he wouldn't have to spend the summer in the Dursley's company – especially after the events at the end of his last school year – but he had not had staying with Professor Snape in his mind. More like a happy summer at the Burrow with Ron and his family. However, on the orders of Professor Dumbledore, he was staying at Snape's house for the rest of the summer – he wouldn't even be allowed to go to the Burrow for the last week of the holidays, like he usually did and in his opinion, it just wasn't fair!

He had however been secretly impressed when Snape had picked him up from the Dursley's – in muggle clothes no less! – driving a muggle car – a very nice muggle car in fact – but the drive to Snape's house in Oxford had been particularly tense and was conducted in silence. Once they had arrived at the house – well, it was more of a mansion really, and extremely nice, Harry would admit – he had been delivered to his room with orders to unpack. That was after the whole "You will not tell anyone, not even Professor Dumbledore, what goes on in this house, Mr Potter, do I make myself perfectly clear!" from Snape and he'd looked so menacing that Harry had simply squeaked "yes, Sir," and had been extremely glad to escape to what was now his room.

The room was large in size and was painted in shades of brown and cream. There was a single bed situated in one corner, which had a dark blue bedspread on it. The floor was simple oak floorboards, with a few blue rugs of different shades scattered around here and there. There was a desk facing the wall opposite the window – conveniently placed so that he couldn't daydream and stare out the window when he was doing his summer homework – which was also made out of oak, as was the wardrobe, the chest of draws, the bookshelf, the nightstand next to his bed and the ottoman that was placed at the end of his bed. There was a hamper next to the wardrobe – presumably for dirty clothes – and a washbasin in one corner.

Harry sat on the floor next to his trunk and idly started to take everything out of it – something which he hadn't done since he'd packed it to go to Hogwarts for his first year. Out came all of the textbooks from all his years at Hogwarts – including all of the Lockhart books – which he arranged by year and subject on the bookshelf. Then he looked at the pile of clothes, which was on his bed, and he set about folding up his Weasley jumpers and placing them in the chest of draws and hanging up his school uniform in the wardrobe, where his Invisibility Cloak and Quidditch kit were also hung up. His shoes went on the shoe rack in the bottom of the wardrobe and that just left Dudley's hand-me-downs, all of which were several sizes too big for Harry. The massive jeans went into the chest of draws, as did the t-shirts. At the moment he was wearing the only pair of jeans he owned which just about fit – a pair of hand-me-downs from Ron, so they were extremely worn, and one of his short-sleeved white school shirts, which Snape had told him to button up properly the moment they were alone in the car. He then hung up what few jackets he had. His cauldron, scales, telescope and his Firebolt went into the ottoman and his potions ingredients went onto the bottom shelf of the bookcase. The flute Hagrid had given him for Christmas in his first year went on the shelf above his desk and the photo album that Hagrid had given him at the end of his first year went onto the top shelf of the bookcase, as did the Marauder's Map.

Looking at the jumble of mess still in his trunk Harry put the _Flying with the Cannons _book that Ron had gotten him for Christmas during second year on the shelf below his school books on the bookshelf and the luxury eagle feather quill that Hermione had gotten him that same Christmas went on the desk with his other quills and inkpots.

Harry was interrupted in his unpacking – he still wasn't sure why he was emptying all of his trunk, since he just lived out of it when staying at the Dursley's, it was probably because of the look on Snape's face when he told him to unpack, the look which demanded complete obedience – by noise coming from downstairs. Snape was in the entranceway, with a woman and nine kids – Harry counted them to make sure – some a lot older than him, some a lot younger. Snape now had hold of the youngest child – a girl – and all the others seemed to be talking at once as they sorted out trunks, several of which had Beauxbatons stamps on, like his own had the Hogwarts one on. They were all talking to Snape, seeming really pleased to see him and Snape was actually smiling! – which was strange enough in itself – and they were calling him… Papa!

Harry quickly retreated back to his room. He must have misheard – Snape could not be the father of the nine children in the entranceway, it was just too weird, and yet it was perfectly normal. Why couldn't Snape have a family? Just because Harry couldn't imagine Snape with a wife and children, didn't mean he couldn't have them. But Snape had used to be a Deatheater, and the oldest child looked a good few years older than Harry, so he had to have been a Deatheater at the same time? Harry simply didn't know enough about Snape's history to piece the story together, but from the sound of it, Snape's family had just arrived home and Harry was going to be spending the summer with them. No wonder Snape wasn't thrilled about having Harry stay with him in the summer, he probably had little time with his family as it was.

Making sure that the door was firmly shut – Harry could hear feet starting up the stairs – he returned to his unpacking. The Broomstick Servicing Kit that Hermione had gotten him for his thirteenth birthday was placed on the bookshelf, as was his Chocolate Frog card collection and his Pocket Sneakoscope was placed on the shelf above his desk, next to his flute. The newspaper clipping of the Weasley family in Egypt, which he had framed, was propped up on his desk and the frame with a picture of his parents in was put on his nightstand. The clipping, which he had framed, of the four Triwizard champions – which was still a painful reminder of Cedric – went on the top shelf of his bookcase and a framed picture of him, Ron and Hermione was placed on the nightstand next to the one of his parents. His Omnioculars from the Quidditch World Cup went on to the shelf above his desk and _Quidditch Teams of Britain and Ireland_,his Christmas present from Hermione in his 4th year, went onto the bookshelf next to _Flying with the Cannons_. He also placed the copy of _Hogwarts: A History _that Hermione had convinced him to buy on that shelf, as well as his copy of _Quidditch Through The Ages_. The penknife that Sirius had given him for Christmas went onto the shelf above his desk, his chess set and his programme from the Quidditch World Cup onto the bookshelf and all that Harry was left with in his trunk was a few posters and banners. Removing them from his trunk, Harry then shut the lid and pushed the trunk under the window, where it made a bench and fitted in nicely with the rest of the room.

He picked up the Gryffindor flag – the one Lee Jordan had draped around him when he had returned to the Common Room after being made a champion in the Triwizard Tournament – and he idly tacked it up on one of the walls. He had a poster of the Irish team from the Quidditch World Cup, which he tacked up above his desk (below the shelf), his poster of the Chudley Cannons went up and the final banner was the one which read 'Potter for President', and had a Gryffindor Lion on it, which his year mates had made before his first Quidditch match and he tacked that up as well.

Finished, he glanced around the room, which really did feel like his now. He hadn't known that he owned so much stuff and he suddenly felt extremely grateful for what he did have. He walked over to where he had pushed his trunk below the window and sat down on it, resting his chin on the windowsill and staring out at the grounds. They were in the middle of nowhere, with nothing but green fields, trees and a stream surrounding them and Harry had to admit that he liked it. Who knew that Snape lived such a life of luxury away from Hogwarts? What on earth was he doing teaching for a living? And why did everything seem so muggle?

Presently there was a knock at the door and Harry stood up as it opened and the woman who had been downstairs – Snape's wife? – entered the room. She wasn't particularly tall, but was thin and had light brown hair, which was tied back into a long plait which was then twisted into a knot on the back of her head, and had sparkly light green eyes. She was quite pretty looking and had a friendly, warm feeling about her. She smiled warmly at him. "All unpacked?" she asked, glancing around the room and smiling more broadly at the 'Potter for President' banner. Harry just nodded helplessly.

"Mama!" came a voice and the woman turned and looked at the door expectantly.

A head poked around the doorway, it was a girl, Harry couldn't even begin to guess the age, although she was younger than him, who had smiling brown eyes and dark brown hair, which was pulled back into two plaits. "You can't be unpacked already Carlotta," the woman said. The girl – Carlotta – nodded. "Properly?" the woman asked. Carlotta nodded again. "Very well, I'll come and check your room, once I've finished checking Harry's."

Check his room? Harry hadn't a clue what was going on and he simply stood near the window as the woman checked his wardrobe, draws and ottoman. She turned and smiled at him. "Almost done, I see," she said. Almost done? What was she talking about? He was done! "Just unpack your rucksack and then you'll be finished," she said, pointing to where his rucksack lay, where he had dumped it on the floor when Snape had showed him to his room. He managed a weak smile at the woman and nodded. "Okay then, I'll be back in ten minutes once I've checked Carlotta's room."

She left and Harry picked up his rucksack in a daze. What had just happened? He emptied the rucksack onto his bed – there wasn't much in it – and glanced out of the window again. He folded the tracksuit bottoms and t-shirt he wore for bed and placed them on his pillow and picked up what looked to be an ordinary muggle notebook, which was completely empty. He placed it in the draw in his nightstand – that was his journal. He then took his pencil case, he had a few muggle pens, coloured pencils and rulers and such and placed it on his desk. Finally he put his rucksack on a shelf in his wardrobe. He had a feeling that the room would be required to be kept this tidy.

The door opened again, and this time it was Carlotta who entered. "Hi," she said, bounding forward.

"Hello," Harry responded, a good deal quieter and more hesitant. He hadn't a clue what he had landed himself in for this summer.

"You probably heard, but I'm Carlotta," she introduced herself. "Carlotta Snape."

So they were Snape's children! "I'm Harry," he told her, "but you probably already know that."

"Yep," she responded cheerfully, sitting on his bed. "How old are you again?"

Harry grinned. "I'm fourteen."

"Okay then. I've just turned eleven, so I'll be starting school in September," she told him.

"Are you looking forward to it?" Harry asked her, simply for something to say.

"In a way," she said and then saw his politely confused look. "I'm not sure which school I'm going to, Mama and Papa are talking about transferring us to Hogwarts."

"Hogwarts is brilliant!" he told her with a smile as he took a seat next to her on the bed.

"Really?"

"Yep," he told her. "It's great."

"I don't know much about it. Papa doesn't talk much about work," Carlotta told him. When she said Papa, Harry figured she was referring to Snape. "But he did say something about Houses?"

"Yeah – students are sorted into one of four houses and they are your family for your time at Hogwarts. Each house is named after one of the four founders of Hogwarts – Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw and Slytherin," Harry explained.

"Which house are you in?" Carlotta asked eagerly.

"Gryffindor," Harry told her with a smile and motioned to the Gryffindor banner that he had pinned up on his wall, the gold and red colours were still bright, with the lion standing out in the middle.

"Cool," was Carlotta's opinion and Harry chuckled. "What?" she asked him.

"Not everyone would think so," he replied neutrally, hoping she wouldn't catch onto the fact that he had her Father in mind.

The door opening again cut off Carlotta's question of asking what he meant. This time it was a boy who entered. "Hey Robin," Carlotta greeted him.

"Hey Carlotta, should of known I'd find you in here," Robin teased. "Hey, Harry, pleased to meet you, I'm Robin Snape," he said, holding out a hand for Harry to shake, which he did.

"I take it you know who I am," Harry said, as he left loose of Robin's hand.

"Of course," Robin answered, as he placed down a pile of clothes that he was carrying on Harry's bed. "Mama sent me through with this lot," he said, gesturing to the pile. "she said you don't have many clothes and these are things that I've grown out of."

"Oh, right," Harry said, feeling his cheeks start to go red. To make sure that Carlotta and Robin couldn't see his face, he turned slightly and looked through the pile of clothes. Standing up he walked across to the chest of draws and opened the draw where he'd put Dudley's hand-me-down t-shirts and pulled a few out.

"Those need to be burned!" Carlotta spoke up behind him. "Why do you wear them, they're massive!"

"I don't get a choice in what I wear Carlotta, all I get are my cousins old clothes and he's a lot bigger than I am," Harry explained quietly.

Carlotta joined him near the draws and finished pulling the t-shirts out. "Burn," she said, throwing one over her shoulder. "Burn, burn, definitely burn!" Then they moved on to the jeans. "These have to be too big for you, and they look ancient! They can be burned as well! Robin, let's look at those clothes you brought!"

"Carlotta! What are you doing! You're making a mess in Harry's room," the woman was back and Carlotta stood up and turned around guiltily.

"I know Mama, but…" Carlotta started.

"No buts Carlotta," she was told and Harry was about to interrupt when a look from Robin told him that that would not be a good idea. "Since you've finished your unpacking Carlotta, you can go and help Alexander finish his."

"Yes Mama," Carlotta said and left the room with a final small smile for Harry.

The woman bent down and picked up Dudley's hand-me-downs and Harry and Robin didn't move. "Well, these can be thrown straight out," the woman said in a no-nonsense sort of voice. "They'll never fit anybody in this house. Robin dear, help Harry put those clothes away and then you can go downstairs and find your father."

"Yes Mama," Robin said and with that the woman left the room – taking Dudley's old clothes with her and Harry knew that he wouldn't be seeing them again. Silently, he and Robin folded t-shirts and jeans and placed them in Harry's chest of draws. Then they hung up the shirts and the jackets and Harry done a quick glance around the room to check that everything was in its place.

"All ready, Harry?" Robin asked as he headed towards the door.

"Yeah," Harry answered as he followed behind and the two left the room and went down the stairs. Robin led Harry through to a small room, just to the right of the stairs where there were two leather couches and a cream rag rug in front of a large fireplace. Snape was sat on one of the couches and two other boys sat on the other. Robin entered the room and sat cross-legged on the rug, and with his eyes he instructed for Harry to do the same.

There was silence for a few minutes, before Snape broke the silence. "Robin."

"Yes, Papa?" Robin answered. Snape simply gestured him to the seat next to him on the couch and Robin moved to sit there. Harry stayed where he was, on the floor in front of the fire. It seemed strange to Harry that Robin, who appeared to be older than him, still called Snape Papa, it seemed, well, childish.

The silence stretched on, until Snape spoke again. "Harry."

Harry looked up, shocked. Snape had never called him anything but 'Potter' before! "Yes, Sir?" he answered.

"I see you have met my son, Robin," Snape said. "And these are my oldest two sons, Jason and Simeon," Snape said, pointing out each one in turn and he got two 'Hi, Harry's'.

Harry attempted a weak smile and answered "Hello," shyly. He wasn't sure how he was going to keep names straight.

"Have you met anyone else yet, Harry?" Snape then asked.

"Only Carlotta, Sir," Harry answered, eliciting grins from Jason, Simeon and Robin.

"And my wife, Juliana, of course," Snape added.

"Yes Sir."

"Very well," Snape said and silence descended again. What was going on? Why the silence? Harry wasn't about to break it though, he was a guest in his Professor's house and he knew he'd have to do as he was told. Especially considering the fact that Snape hated him. The door opening broke the silence. "Harry, this is my daughter, Laura. Laura, this is Harry."

"Hello," Harry said quietly and received a quiet 'hi' in return. Laura joined him on the rug in front of the fire. Like Carlotta, Laura's long hair was pulled back into two plaits that fell down her back and were tied with blue ribbons whereas Carlotta had pink ribbons and whereas Carlotta's hair was dark brown, Laura's was lighter and more of a chestnut colour, with a reddish hint to it.

Two more boys entered with Carlotta, who Snape introduced as Dominic and Alexander and the three joined Harry and Laura on the floor. Harry stared determinedly at the rug – the silence was starting to make him extremely uncomfortable and he felt really out of place. If he weren't there, would they all be talking? Would Snape be more open with his children?

Finally, after what seemed like an age to Harry the door opened once more and Snape's wife – was it Juliana? – entered, with the youngest girl and another boy. The boy joined Harry, Laura, Carlotta, Dominic and Alexander on the floor, while Juliana sat next to Snape and the youngest girl was on Snape's lap, something that seemed just too weird to Harry.

Snape and Juliana were talking quietly together, but the children stayed quiet. Harry attempted to put them in age order. Jason, Simeon and Robin were obviously older than him and Jason and Simeon were older than Robin – Snape had said so – but he didn't know who was the oldest. Laura appeared to be close in age to him, and Carlotta, Dominic and Alexander were obviously younger than them, although Carlotta and Dominic appeared to be very close in age. Harry glanced at Snape again – who suddenly looked very different from the Potions teacher he knew from Hogwarts – and contemplated the situation he found himself in. From the looks of things, Snape was strict with his children – extremely strict – why else would they be sat in silence, not fidgeting, not complaining, whilst their parents talked? But really, Harry shouldn't of expected anything else, given the way Snape taught whilst they were at school, but surely, wasn't this going too far?

Soon enough though, Snape dismissed – it was only appropriate word Harry could find – them all and Harry was even more confused. Jason, Simeon, Robin, Laura, Carlotta, Dominic and Alexander left, disappearing into the house quickly, leaving Harry alone in the room with Snape and his wife and the youngest two children. The girl slid down off Snape's lap and walked over to Harry, sitting down close to him on the rug. "I'm Hazel," she told him in a voice which indicated that she was still learning to speak. Hazel's short hair was also pulled back into two small plaits, like her older sisters, but her hair was a lot fairer than either of her sisters, it could possibly be even classed as blonde and her plaits were tied with pale yellow ribbons.

"I'm Harry," he told her quietly – he really didn't have a clue of how to act with young children!

"Why are you here?" Hazel wanted to know.

Somebody get him out of this! "I have to spend the summer here." Harry told her.

"Why?" Hazel questioned.

"Because I've been told I have to," Harry said.

"But why?" Hazel wanted to know.

Harry glanced helplessly towards the couch and was surprised to see Snape smiling down at him. "Because Harry has nowhere else to stay, Hazel," Snape said. "So he'll be staying with us."

"Yes, Papa," Hazel said and Harry had the feeling that she knew by now not to question Snape but Harry couldn't see how she knew this, because surely they didn't spend much time with each other – Snape spent the better part of the year living at Hogwarts and he was always about during the Christmas and Easter holidays.

Snape surprised Harry by speaking again. "Why so quiet, Oliver?" he asked and Harry figured that Oliver had to be the name of the youngest boy. Oliver just shrugged, still not saying anything. Snape gestured him to his side and Oliver went reluctantly, dragging his feet slightly. Snape however simply hugged the boy to his side with one arm and with his other hand tilted Oliver's chin up so that he could look him in the eyes. Oliver then said something so quietly that Harry couldn't hear it, but Snape registered the words with a look of surprise and then he swept Oliver up into a tight hug, stroking the back of his sons hair. "Oh, Ol," Snape murmured. "Of course this isn't going to change anything!"

Oliver pulled back a bit. "Promise?" Oliver had inherited his Father's black hair, the fringe of which now fell into his eyes and Snape brushed fondly aside.

"I promise," Snape told him. "Why would having Harry here change anything?"

Juliana just laughed. "As much as you wont admit it Severus, your children know you well," she told him. "They know that you like to keep your private life private and don't show feelings around others."

Harry had to grin at that, Snape certainly didn't seem to show feelings around others, but in the short time that he had been in Snape's house, he had discovered that Snape had a wife and children – nine(!) children none the less – and had seen him carry the youngest and hug the youngest two and when they'd arrived home he'd seemed really friendly with all of them. Hazel stood up again and went to join her brother and father and Harry suddenly felt really awkward and really out of place, as if he were witnessing something he was never meant to witness – Snape's private life, away from Hogwarts.

Harry stared determinedly at the fireplace, trying to ignore both the happy family scene going on on the couch behind him and the pang of jealousy that was rising up deep inside of his chest. He couldn't believe that Snape – his greasy, snarky, sarcastic, mean, horrible, the list of adjectives just went on, none of them good – Potions teacher had nine children and a wife! He wished he were confident enough to go and find his room again and hide away writing in his journal. Where was that Gryffindor courage when he needed it? He wasn't even brave enough to walk out of a room because Snape hadn't said he could.

Presently enough however, Snape addressed him again. "Harry."

Harry forced himself to look at his most hated Professor. "Yes Sir?"

Snape offered him a small smile – he'd been looking a lot younger at his home than he had at school anyway and the smile took even more years off – and Harry wasn't sure whether he preferred Snape smiling at him or sneering at him. At least when he was sneering, Harry knew where he had him, knew what to expect. "May I call you Harry? It seems very formal to go around calling you Mr Potter all summer, we are not at Hogwarts at the moment."

"Yes Sir," Harry stuttered out. This day was just getting weirder and weirder. Any moment now he was going to wake up, surely.

"Does that mean that Harry should call you Papa as well?" Hazel questioned and Harry's mind reeled at the mere suggestion. Call Snape - of all people, Snape (!) – Papa? He didn't think he could survive the summer if he had to!

"Considering the fact that I am Harry's teacher, I hardly think that would be appropriate, Hazel," Snape answered calmly and it was all Harry could do not to breath an audible sigh of relief.

"But…" Hazel started to say.

"You don't question me, Hazel," Snape said sternly, sounding a lot more like the Professor Harry knew from Hogwarts, but also seeming a lot more kinder than that Professor.

"Yes Papa," Hazel said.

"Harry," Snape started again. "As you have more than likely figured out, there is more to my private life than what everyone simply assumes."

Snape stopped and looked directly into Harry's eyes and he seemed to want some kind of response. "Yes Sir," Harry said quietly, a bit unnerved by the intense look Snape was giving him.

"And I like to keep my private life just that, private. So you are not to go telling all your friends about my life away from Hogwarts, do I make myself perfectly clear, young man?" Snape asked, the stern tone that demanded complete obedience was back.

"Yes Sir," Harry managed to answer. It wasn't like any of his friends would believe him if he told them anyway. Harry could still barely believe it himself.

It was Hazel who broke what could have become an uncomfortable silence. "Papa?" she asked.

"Yes Hazel?" Snape responded.

"Are you going to read to us again every night like you did last summer?" Hazel asked.

"You can remember that?" Snape asked, sounding very surprised.

"No Papa, but Carlotta, Dominic, Alexander and Oliver told me about it," Hazel informed him solemnly and Snape smiled down at his youngest daughter.

"If you want me to read to you after supper, then I shall read to you after supper," he told her kindly, hugging both Oliver and Hazel to him tighter.

"And Harry can listen to?" Hazel asked.

"If Harry so wishes to then of course he can," Snape reassured his daughter, who had seemed to of taken a liking to Harry.

Hazel nodded sleepily and lay her head down on her father's shoulder and let her eyes close. "It looks like someone needs a nap," Juliana commented, checking the clock and seeing that it was two o'clock in the afternoon. "And I'm guessing that you haven't fed yourself and Harry, either, Severus."

"You know me too well," Snape said and placed a kiss on Juliana's cheek, something that Harry couldn't believe he was seeing. But since Juliana had mentioned food, Harry realised that he was hungry, very hungry as he hadn't even been given breakfast at the Dursley's that morning.

"You go and put Hazel down for her nap then and I'll go and make us a late lunch and we'll just have dinner later than usual tonight," Juliana said and Snape left the room to carry Hazel upstairs.

"Oliver, honey," Juliana said as she left the room. "Go and tell everyone else that lunch will be ready in half an hour please."

"Yes Mama," Oliver said, as he was left alone in the room with Harry. Harry attempted a weak smile at the boy – he seemed very young – and Oliver managed a small smile back.

"Would you like me to come with you?" Harry asked, only because he needed something to do, he did not want to be left alone in the room, especially in case Snape came back!

Oliver nodded and took Harry by the hand and led him out of the room in silence. Harry didn't have a clue how to behave around children, especially not children who held his hand and he too remained silent as the walked up the stairs together, Harry going more slowly than he usually would have because of Oliver, who didn't walk very fast.

Oliver opened the door to the first room on the landing and Harry looked in to see Dominic and Alexander sat on one of the rugs on the floor. The room was decorated in shades of dark green and cream, with the bed in the same place as Harry's with a cream bedspread and the furniture and floorboards were made out of the same oak as in Harry's room.

"Mama said to tell you that lunch will be ready in half an hour," Oliver told his brothers, who both nodded.


	2. Chapter 2

Harry and Oliver told everyone else when lunch would be ready and Harry felt a pang in his stomach as they came to what was either Jason, Simeon or Robin's room and all three of them were sat inside talking about Quidditch moves and the like. He would have dearly loved to join them, but obviously could not without an invitation and besides, Oliver's hand was still held tightly within his own. After giving Laura and Carlotta the same message, Oliver led Harry back downstairs to the kitchen, where Juliana was making lunch. Oliver took a seat at the kitchen table and Harry just kind of hovered behind him, not sure what to do next. And then, as if his worst nightmare was coming true, Snape entered the kitchen and sat down next to Oliver and picked up a muggle newspaper - _The Times _- and turned to the crossword section, with Oliver eagerly looking over at the page as well. Snape then looked up and saw Harry hovering nervously, looking at his shoes and said simply, "take a seat, Harry" and gestured to the chair next to himself and Harry had no choice but to sit down next to his Potions Professor. So now, instead of studying his shoes, Harry found himself studying the cherry wood of the solid kitchen table. The kitchen was nice, the table was large because obviously a lot of people had to sit around it and the room was painted in pale yellow, cream and light blue.

When he did dare to glance up Harry caught a glimpse of how much Oliver looked like his father, he had his father's dark hair and his eyes were only slightly lighter than Snape's, instead of being black they seemed to be a very dark blue and although he had inherited Snape's nose it wasn't as hooked and it seemed to fit his face, but their was no doubt that Oliver was Snape's son, he hadn't inherited many physical characteristics from his mother at all.

Harry was interrupted in his musings by Laura and Carlotta coming into the kitchen. Carlotta immediately took the free seat next to Harry and Laura went and sat on the other side of Oliver and Harry realised that the ends of the table wouldn't be used and six people would simply sit down either side and Harry didn't know if he was looking forward to the meal or absolutely dreading it! On one hand he wanted the chance to study Snape's children more closely and to check that he could put the right name to the right face but he also hadn't a clue of how he was supposed to act during lunch - Snape was strict and Harry really didn't know how he was supposed to behave at the table, well apart from the obvious no elbows on the table, he was guessing. He didn't even know whether talking would be allowed, or whether or not Snape would uphold the old value that children shouldn't speak at the table unless they were spoken to. Mind you, Harry didn't plan on saying much anyway, all of this was new to him and he was very clearly the outsider and he was not going to draw attention to himself! Discreetly studying Laura down the table - Harry couldn't study Carlotta so much because she was the only one sat on his left hand side and it would be rude to turn his head towards her and blank everyone else - he noticed that although Laura had chestnut coloured hair that didn't come directly from either Snape or Juliana and that she was the only member of the family to have that colour hair, she did share the same eye colour as Oliver, that same dark blue colour which was a few shades lighter than Snape's black colour.

Lunch was not completely a silent affair but from Harry's observations it seemed like the whole children-should-not-speak-unless-they-are-spoken-to rule was in place, at least for the youngest children, the rule did not seem to apply to Jason and Simeon, and Robin was also encouraged to talk by Snape. Harry himself just stayed quiet and ate quietly what was put in front of him - tuna salad. He had seen both Simeon and Dominic wince a bit and exchange a sympathetic yet encouraging look and he figured out that another rule must be that you got what you where given and you ate all of it without complaint. Harry did not mind, he was not fussy when it came to food, he would eat just about anything - he supposed he had the Dursley's to thank for that, he was grateful if he got food at all, so he wasn't fussy about what type of food it was. Once everyone had finished eating, Laura and Carlotta carried the dishes to the sink and began to wash and clear them away - obviously this was there expected task - Juliana went to put a sleepy Oliver down for a nap, Jason disappeared with Snape, and Robin took Dominic and Alexander off somewhere to do something. Harry once again found himself studying the kitchen table, only this time Simeon was sat opposite him and Laura and Carlotta stood at the sink, yet the silence could not be called a comfortable silence. Glancing up, Harry met Simeon's gaze briefly and was offered a smile which he returned hesitantly, all the time wondering why on earth he had wanted to join Jason, Simeon and Robin earlier, he felt nothing more than a need to get away right now, but he couldn't figure out how to do it without appearing to be rude. He did not need Snape's children to hate him, not if he was going to survive the summer!

"So, you'll be staying with us all summer are you Harry?" Simeon finally broke the silence, and Harry couldn't tell whether or not their was malice behind the words, simple curiosity or simply desperation for something to say to break the silence.

"As far as I know," Harry said quietly. Laura and Carlotta had finished the pots by now and Carlotta came over to the table and sat next to Harry again, whilst Laura left the room quietly.

"It wont be so bad, you'll see," Carlotta told him with a smile and Harry got the feeling that she was either really good at reading people, or his despair was very clear to read on his face. He hoped for the former, rather than the latter.

"Yeah, Papa's bark is worse than his bite," Simeon said with a small laugh, and Harry got the distinct impression that he was being teased as if he were a younger brother and wondered why Ron complained about it all the time, clearly it was all in good jest.

"I think I'm beginning to see that," Harry admitted, "but if you ever serve a few detentions with him you may think otherwise!" he joked, and made it clear that he was joking, he did not want to bad-mouth Professor Snape in front of his Professor's children, he did not think that would end well, and he had a feeling that both Simeon and Carlotta would be protective of their father.

"Well remind me never to give Papa a reason to give me detention then," Simeon told him and Harry couldn't help but to grin at him, and he got a wide smile in return.

Carlotta, however, looked worried. "Do people get detention a lot at Hogwarts?" she asked anxiously.

"It depends on whether or not you get in trouble a lot," Harry told her with what could be called a brotherly smile.

"Oh," Carlotta said quietly and Simeon chuckled.

"I don't think you have to worry about detentions Carlotta," he said kindly. "And besides, you don't even know if you're going to Hogwarts yet, you might end up going to Beauxbatons yet. Anyway, let's change the subject from school, it's the summer holidays, you know the time filled with fun when we have Papa with us and days in the sun and going for walks and swimming in the lake and river and possibly a trip to the Lakes, I'm sure you remember it!" Harry decided then and there that he liked Simeon and he still couldn't understand why Ron disliked older-brotherly teasing. It seemed quite fun to Harry, but then again, he wasn't used to having a family - that was if he could class Snape's family as his own. Where on earth had that thought come from! Harry managed to stop himself from panicking just about, and was relieved when Simeon and Carlotta did not appear to notice that something was wrong with him. Consider Snape family! He must have gone mad - this was his mean, nasty, snaky Potions professor he was talking about here!

It was half an hour later, when Harry was still listening to Simeon and Carlotta banter across the table - he had managed to get away with barely saying word, his shyness having come back full force when he found himself thinking of himself as part of the family, which he most definitely was not and he wanted nothing more to escape again but he still didn't know how - when Juliana came in and asked Simeon to go and get Hazel and Oliver up from their naps. Simeon left the room without question, just as Harry had expected him to and Harry found himself with orders to wash his hands and to make sure that his fingernails were clean. Stunned from the unexpected command, Harry obeyed without question and soon he found himself chopping carrots at the kitchen table, next to Carlotta who was peeling potatoes. Clearly he was helping to make dinner, whenever that would be. Simeon came back into the room with both Oliver and Hazel, who were soon occupied at the other end of the table with colouring books of the muggle variety, only after Hazel had given Harry a hug though, eliciting smiles from both Juliana and Simeon, and Simeon was now with him and Carlotta, only he was shelling peas. Clearly the Snapes' were a big believer in vegetables and Harry, from the little he had seen from Snape's life outside of Hogwarts, didn't find that hard to believe at all.

It was at exactly four o'clock when Laura re-entered the kitchen and soon it was clear to Harry that she had also come to help prepare dinner, whenever it would be. "There you are, Laura, honey," Juliana greeted her. "Come and help me make this pastry." Silence descended onto the kitchen and Harry focused on his task, keeping his head down and his eyes firmly on the table. He was used to chores from the Dursley's, but this was different in a way, it was well, for lack of a better description, more loving. It wasn't all rough commands and denied meals if he didn't finish in time and that made all the difference in the world. Yet he was staying with Snape - denied meals was something he would of expected before today because he definitely rated Snape on the same meanness level as the Dursley's, but then again he hadn't expected Snape to be married and have kids! Ron and Hermione would never believe him even if he swore on his life that it was true, but that didn't matter anyway because Snape had told him that he wasn't allowed to tell anyone what went on in his house and Harry was pretty certain that that included that fact that Snape was married and had nine children. Because if that fact got out it would completely destroy the reputation of a cold evil bat that he had around school.

Juliana had left Laura making the pastry at the countertop near the sink and had joined Harry, Simeon and Carlotta at their end of the table after briefly checking on Oliver and Hazel, who were still deeply absorbed in their muggle colouring books, and she began to dice up several pieces of steak. Clearly the meal was going to be a very fulfilling one and Harry couldn't wait for it, he wasn't used to having proper meals during the summer months!

The conversation was starting up again around him, but Harry still kept his head down and didn't speak, but he did listen in to the conversation just in case he was asked to contribute to it because if he was asked he didn't want to appear completely ignorant and rude and have to admit that he had no idea what they were talking about. Mind you, from the vantage point he had now, he was able to study some more of Snape's children - he had already started to build up character studies of both Laura and Oliver and one thing not many people knew about Harry was his flair for writing and his talent for describing people with words, but in order to do that he had to study them carefully first and there was a very good reason why his journal was magically password protected, because no one was reading that without his permission! He now had the chance to study Carlotta a bit more and whilst her hair was dark, it was not quite black, it was a very dark brown which was a few shades lighter than black and he also noted the first characteristic he had spotted in any one of Snape's children which had been inherited from Juliana, Carlotta had Juliana's light green eyes. Mind you, now he came to think about it, Jason, Simeon and Dominic all had their mothers hair, well, it was a few shades darker and was probably best described as just brown, neither light nor dark, whereas Juliana could be described as having light brown hair. Robin had inherited his father's black hair, Harry recalled and Alexander could be described as having blonde hair, like his younger sister Hazel.

Soon the preparation for the meal was done and Juliana shooed everyone but Laura and Carlotta out of the kitchen, so Harry found himself stood in the main hallway with Simeon, Oliver and Hazel. Before he could escape upstairs as he still desperately wanted to, Hazel took hold of his hand, and I her other hand she still held her colouring book and her coloured pencils. "Colour with me for a while, please, Harry?" she requested and Harry knew he couldn't say no, not without hurting her immensely.

"Of course," he answered and gave her a smile, whilst glancing over at Simeon, who was holding Oliver's hand.

"You want to continue colouring too?" Simeon asked Oliver and received a nod, clearly Oliver was very shy. "Well, come on then, lets go colour." Simeon led them to a room not far from the one where the whole family had gathered together earlier on but this room was larger and had an old oak table in it with rustic benches and a set on doors at the end of the room which led outside onto some decking and beyond that all Harry could see was green. There was another leather couch in this room and there were several rugs scattered around of the floor which was once again made of oak floorboards and the entire place had a light airy feel to it, but it didn't seem very lived in - everything was in it's place and nothing was disturbed, it didn't feel like their were nine kids living in the place, you'd expect some things to be mussed up but everything was perfect. Harry was almost afraid to touch anything in case he got anything dirty or broke something. Simeon, Oliver and Hazel, however, were all heading over to the table and Harry simply followed them, but it wasn't like he had much choice in the matter, Hazel still held his hand within her own. Simeon sat down on the end of the table on one side and helped Oliver up onto the bench next to him and with his eyes he motioned for Harry to sit opposite him, which he did and he helped Hazel up onto the bench next to him and he kept an arm across her back, resting his hand on the table lightly on the other side of her, not wanting her to fall. Colouring books were opened and Harry found himself helping Hazel to colour a picture of a stereotypical barn yarn, with the big barn in the background, which was obviously supposed to be coloured red and all the animals in front of the barn, including hens, pigs, cows, sheep, horses and a sheepdog. There wasn't much talking going on, apart from Hazel telling him what colour to use were and Harry concentrated on what he was doing, so much so that he didn't hear another person enter the room.

"So this is where you four have hidden yourselves off to, is it?" a voice asked from the doorway and it took all of Harry's effort not to jump out of his skin in surprise.

"Papa!" Hazel responded as Snape walked further into the room and she held up her arms in a request to be picked up, and Snape complied, sitting her on his hip easily. "Harry's been helping me to colour," she told him, proudly.

"So I see," Snape responded and Harry could feel his cheeks start to go pink. Then it hit him with full force - he had been sat colouring with Snape's youngest daughter! Snape's daughter! Colouring! Harry wondered just how much weirder the rest of the summer was going to get, and this was only his first day at Snape's house. How he was going to survive the summer he did not know.

After admiring both Oliver and Hazel's colouring for a while, Snape sent Simeon, Harry and Oliver to freshen up before dinner and he took Hazel with him when he left the room. Harry followed Simeon and Oliver up the stairs and went into his room when he reached it, leaving his door slightly ajar, so he would know when someone was going back downstairs and he crossed to the washbasin in the corner of his room. He washed his hands, neck, face and ears and ran a comb through his hair in a desperate attempt to try and tame it and then he sat quietly on the edge of his bed, waiting to see whether or not someone would tell him what to do next.

Jason, Simeon and Oliver came to get him when they went back down stairs and Harry once again found himself in the kitchen, where Juliana and Snape were stood talking, although Laura and Carlotta were nowhere to be seen. Juliana smiled at them as they entered and began doling out tasks; "Simeon, you can set the table, Jason you can get drink and Oliver, you can keep your father out of trouble," she said with a smile.

"Yes Mama," Oliver said with a wide grin and a slight giggle as he walked over to Snape who scooped him up into his arms and ruffled his hair. Harry once again, for what seemed to be the millionth time that day, found himself studying his shoes, wishing desperately that he were some place else and hoping that he wasn't getting in the way. After a while, deeming that he was in the way, Harry moved to stand a bit closer to Snape and Oliver, who were out of the way at the side of the kitchen. Snape had sat Oliver on the countertop near the and father and son appeared to be deep in conversation and Harry didn't want to interrupt. Besides, talking to Snape was not what he had in mind as an ideal way to pass the time!

Practically before Harry knew what was happening they were all sitting down to eat the meal, and this time he found himself sat in between Robin and Laura. And this time he also found himself encouraged to talk by both Snape and Juliana, both of whom asked him several direct questions. Harry, although extremely uncomfortable, answered the questions the best he could and went back to hoping that the meal would be over soon.

Once the meal was over, Snape gave them all permission to leave and they had free time until they would meet in the den at seven. That would give them an hour and a half to themselves and Harry didn't know whether he wanted to be invited along with someone or whether he wanted to escape to his room and be by himself to process things for a while. They were all just about to leave, when Snape spoke again. "Harry, if you stay behind and then you and I can have a little talk," he requested, and Harry noted with some surprise that his tone was kind and gentle, a tone he had never expected to hear from Snape, and especially not directed at him! Harry nodded and stayed in his seat as Snape's children left the room and Juliana started to stack the dishes in the sink. Harry once again found himself studying the tabletop and desperately wishing that he where someplace else.


	3. Chapter 3

Harry continued to stare at the kitchen table for several long minutes which seemed to stretch on for an eternity for him, as Snape silently studied him. Snape finally stood up and made to move toward the door, saying simply, "come, Harry," and who was Harry to disobey. "We'll be in my study if you need me," Snape told Juliana and he gave her a quick peck on the cheek. Harry quickly averted his gaze downwards again. These were things he simply did not want to witness! He followed Snape out into the main hallway and instead of turning left as they left the kitchen, as had been the case to get into the room he was in earlier with Simeon, Oliver and Hazel and the room which Robin had led him to before lunch, they turned right and to a door which Harry had not noticed before to the right of the main staircase.

It was a fairly large room, with two of the walls covered in bookshelves and at a quick glance Harry to see that many of them were potions texts and some on defence against the dark arts. There was a large desk towards one corner, with a comfortable looking arm chair behind it. Pressed against the wall near the desk was a low set of chest of draws, which judging from the cushions on top also doubled over as a seat. Snape sat in the arm chair and he gestured Harry towards the chest of draws and Harry perched awkwardly on the end of a cushion and resisted the urge to bend over slightly and stare at his shoes again. He was alone in a room with Snape, in Snape's house, surely no good could come out of this! He could think of a hundred other places he would rather be, he would even take a History of Magic lesson with Professor Binns over this! So instead of focussing his attention on his shoes again, Harry looked around the room more closely and found it was quite similar to the rest of the rooms in the house which he had seen, the same oak floorboards, the desk was the same as the one he had in his room only larger, and the bookshelves were made of the same wood as the ones in his room. One the desk a photo frame caught his eye, it was a muggle photograph since it did not move and had obviously been taken a few years ago since neither Oliver nor Hazel were in the picture.

Harry barely managed not to visibly start when Snape handed him a glass of something to drink, and a cautious sip told Harry that it was iced fresh orange juice - despite the way Harry had seen Snape act with his children and wife, he still expected him to poison him at any chance he got and he was almost expecting their to be a horrid aftertaste in his mouth after every sip of orange juice, a sign that there had been a potion mixed in with the drink. The theory was more than likely completely rubbish, Snape was drinking exactly the same thing, but Harry had been so preoccupied with looking around Snape's study that he had not seen Snape get the drinks, so you never knew…

"So, Harry," Snape started, and Harry still was not quite comfortable with Snape calling him by his given name, and he supposed that it was for the benefit of Snape's children, it would not do for them to hear their father addressing him as 'Potter', especially Oliver and Hazel, it would only confuse them. "Are you settling in ok?" Snape asked and Harry simply nodded. "Have there been any problems?" Harry simply shook his head. "Is there anything you wish to ask me?"

Harry could think of at least half a dozen things he wished he could ask, who knows you're married, how did you manage to get her to marry you, why are you suddenly being so nice to me, does Dumbledore know you have kids… but he could ask none of those things without appearing rude, and as much as this, he loathed to say it, nice, Snape unnerved him, he did not want the old snarky Snape he knew to make a reappearance. He needed something moderately intelligent which would also give him some information to help him survive the summer. Hmmm… Robin seemed to be the boy closest in age with him, so lets start with that. "Ummm… How old is Robin, Sir?" Harry asked quietly, thinking that it wasn't a very intelligent question, but he knew next to nothing about Snape's kids and it would be nice to know.

"He's sixteen, he'll be going into his sixth year at school," Snape told him with a small smile and a chuckle. "Anything else?"

"No one else knows, do they?" Harry asked, although it was more of a statement than a question. "That you have a wife and children, I mean," Harry blurted out, trying to sound respectful.

"No they don't, not at the moment," Snape told him and Harry was surprised at how honest he was and also very shocked that Snape had managed to keep this from both Dumbledore and Voldemort, it was quite a feat to pull off. Snape chuckled again, correctly guessing what Harry was thinking from the look of stunned disbelief on his face.

Yes, Harry was stunned that Snape had managed to keep something this big from both Dumbledore and Voldemort for such a long time - how old was Jason? That was probably how long Snape had been hiding this fact, but he and Juliana may have been married a bit before that, oh Harry didn't know how long Snape had been hiding the fact! - but he was also stunned at hearing his Potions Professor chuckle, and twice! "Umm… are there… any rules… I need to… umm… know about?" Harry stuttered out once he had managed to get his emotions back under control.

Snape seemed to turned serious all of a sudden and Harry suddenly dreaded the long list he was likely to receive and which he knew he would never manage to remember. "Only one," Snape said, surprising Harry, "do as you're told when you're told and mind me and Juliana at all times. Do that and we wont have any problems. The others will inform you of anything else they deem necessary for you to know," Snape told him.

"Yes Sir," Harry said, simply because he felt that he had to say something and he had the feeling that an uncomfortable silence was about to descend on the room. He was saved from having to try and start an awkward conversation by a knock on the door. It was Jason.

"Mama said to let you know that I'm taking Dom, Alex and Ol for a walk up to the weir," Jason informed Snape and Harry wondered how far away it was and wondered whether or not he wanted an invitation. Jason was Snape's oldest child and Harry did not have a clue of how to act around him.

"Very well," Snape said. "Why don't you run along and find an old pair of walking boots that will fit Harry and get one of your old jumpers for him to wear and you can take him along with you and show him some of the area. We're almost done here." Jason left the room and Harry knew that neither he nor Jason, Dominic, Alexander and Oliver were getting a choice in the matter. Well, Harry decided, he could do with some fresh air, and if he was going to be spending the summer here then he might as well get to know the area.

"Harry," Snape drew Harry's attention back to him, "I don't expect there to be any problems, but if there are or something is simply bothering you, then you can come to either Juliana or myself," Snape told him, sounding serious, and well, parental like.

"Yes Sir," Harry responded, yet he couldn't see himself going to either Snape or Juliana if there was a problem, he just wasn't comfortable around them, what he wouldn't do to be living with Sirius right now, and thinking of Sirius, he was going to have a fit when he heard about him living with Snape. Hang on… was he allowed to send owls? And Hedwig was at Hogwarts… There was no time to ask because Jason was back.

Harry obediently took off his trainers and pulled on the walking boots and with a quick spell, the first magic Harry had seen used in the house, Snape sent his trainers up to his room. He also took the blue jumper that Jason handed to him and pulled it over his head and the white school shirt he was wearing, taking care to pull his collar out and flatten it properly. "Since Harry's coming with us, so are Carlotta and Robin," Jason told Snape with a smile, "but Simeon and Laura are going to stay here with Hazel since she's too small to make the walk on her own."

Snape smiled back at his oldest child. "Make sure you watch Oliver and don't go to quick for him, you need to remember that he's only four."

"I will, Papa. Ready Harry?" Jason asked and Harry nodded and followed Jason out of the room.

So, five minutes later Harry found himself walking along a country lane, with Carlotta on one side of him, and Robin on the other. "The weir's about ten more minutes in this direction," Robin told him "and then about five more minutes and a few steps there's a bridge over the reservoir which the weir provides the dam for." Harry nodded in understanding, although he had never seen a reservoir or a weir before, but he understood the directions that Robin was explaining to him.

Harry liked the weir, but he loved the reservoir, the elevated expanse of water - bigger and cleaner than the lake at Hogwarts - and he loved the feeling of the wind in his hair when they all stood on the bridge, Jason holding Oliver and Robin holding Alexander so that they could see over the side of the bridge. This left Harry stood with Dominic and Carlotta, Harry predictably standing in the middle. They pointed out the boats to him on the far side of the reservoir. "Have you ever been sailing, Harry?" Carlotta asked. Harry shook his head - not unless you counted arriving at Hogwarts in first year, but he was pretty certain that Carlotta was talking about muggle sailing. "We'll have to teach you then. Papa often comes with us," Carlotta said. Harry wanted to learn to sail, but spending extra time with Snape was definitely not at the top of his to-do list!

"We'll have to teach Harry what, Carlotta?" Jason asked.

"To sail!" Carlotta answered as if it were the most obvious thing in the world. "He's never been before."

"We definitely will then," Robin said. "We don't want Harry missing out on all the fun this summer." Harry grinned at Robin, he knew that sailing was definitely going to be part of the summer agenda now, and he couldn't wait. It promised to be fun, and he's never had a whole summer that could be described as fun, thanks to the Dursley's. Sure, there had been fun times at the Weasley's and Diagon Alley, but that was only for part of the summer, but now the summer was only just beginning, and it was promising to be good, even if he was spending it with Snape!

"Come on, we'd better head back," Jason said, putting Oliver down and taking his hand. "Papa will be mad if we're late."

No kidding, Harry thought dryly with a roll of his eyes, which Robin caught, causing him to smirk at him as he placed Alexander on the ground. Carlotta once again stuck next to Harry, but Harry found himself not minding, being older than Carlotta he somehow felt more comfortable with her and he was willing to lend an ear and listen to her stories about sailing in previous summers, with Dominic inserting odd comments here and there as well. They were about five minutes walk from the house to Harry's best estimate, when Jason suddenly picked up Oliver and said, "run!" as he took off in the direction of the house. Robin, Harry, Carlotta, Dominic and Alexander followed him, realising that the darkness which had started to fall was not the approaching dusk, it was too early if you stopped and thought about it, but rain clouds and that it was threatening to pour down, which it quickly did. Robin had Alexander tightly by the hand as they ran and he reached out for Carlotta's hand as well. Harry did not know how old Dominic was, but he felt a hand slide into his and he grasped it tightly, helping Dominic run after Robin, Alexander and Carlotta, and Harry was glad to realise that he could see the forms of Jason and Oliver not too far in front of Robin, Alexander and Carlotta.

They all crashed through the door into the kitchen dripping wet and in a muddled heap, despite the fact that they had only been caught in the rain for a few minutes and Juliana handed out towels and Dominic finally left loose of Harry's hand. Simeon, Laura and Hazel were all sat at the kitchen table, and it was clear that Simeon was trying very hard not to dissolve into laughter. Harry unlaced the walking boots he had been given and managed to toe them off, briskly rubbing the towel he had been handed through his hair. "Right, give me your wet shoes and then get upstairs and into some dry clothes," Juliana told them and they all done as they were told. Snape had told him to mind himself and Juliana, but he had not mentioned the consequences of not doing so, and if he was truthful, Harry did not want to know.

Once in his room, Harry quickly stripped out of his wet clothes and dumped them in the hamper in the corner of the room near his wash basin. He then grabbed the towel from the rail next to the wash basin and quickly dried himself down and then went to see what clothes he could put on now - all the clothes he now had were hand-me-downs from Robin, which was a vast improvement from hand-me-downs from Dudley, since the clothes from Robin were much more likely to fit. He selected a pair of blue cords and a cream long sleeved, V-neck jumper, which was supposed to be worn like a t-shirt - with nothing underneath it. There was a knock at the door and Harry walked over and answered it, surprised to find Dominic instead of Robin or Carlotta. Harry smiled at him and seeing how Dominic only had his socks on, he guessed he need not bother with his trainers, and indeed, when a door further down the corridor opened to reveal Robin, he too only had socks on, so Harry's mind was at rest. Both Harry and Dominic waited for Robin to come down the hall to them, clearly there was not running inside the house and Harry casting a quick glance around his room to check that everything was in it's place and that it was tidy before pulling the door shut. "Hey, Mama's gave away my favourite jumper," Robin teased when he reached them and Harry barely resisted the urge to stick his tongue out at him.

"You know full well that that jumper doesn't fit you anymore, Robin," Dominic stated. "Mum's been trying to get it away from you for ages!"

"Yeah, but you're so small it wouldn't fit you," Robin needled, and Dominic did stick his tongue out at his older brother and Robin responded likewise and Harry didn't even try to stop his laughter.

"Yeah, but unluckily for you, it does fit Harry. And it's not my fault your seven years older than me, I'm supposed to be smaller that you," Dominic responded. Right then, Robin was seven years older than Dominic, so if Robin was sixteen that would make Dominic, sixteen minus seven is… nine! Dominic was nine, two years younger than Carlotta.

The three made their way downstairs and to the den where they had sat at the beginning of the day. They still had fifteen minutes of free time left so they were the only three in the room, but it wasn't long before Carlotta entered the room. Harry noticed that, although Robin had been invited to sit on the couch next to Snape that morning, he didn't assume that he could now and he was sat on the rug along with Harry, Dominic and Carlotta. There was something different about Carlotta, Harry thought, and it took him a moment to realise that her hair was down, and not tied into the two plaits that it had been earlier, but she did have a hairbrush and her hair ribbons with her, so no doubt it would be tied back again soon enough. Indeed it was, Laura entered the room not two minutes later and she brushed and braided Carlotta's hair back into two different kind of plaits from earlier and Harry managed to recognise then as scalp plaits. It might just of been him, but it looked painful, but Carlotta did not complain once. When down, Harry noticed that Carlotta's hair was long, it fell to her mid-back, but he noticed that Laura's plaits were longer than Carlotta's, so it followed that her hair had to be longer and Harry couldn't help but wonder how long it was.

It was not long until Jason and Simeon entered the room, accompanied by both Alexander and Oliver and they did sit down on the couch and Alexander joined the others on the rug, but Oliver was pulled to sit up on Jason's knee and Harry realised that Oliver was dressed in his pyjamas. Snape and Juliana entered with Hazel five minutes later, Hazel also wearing a nightdress and was sat on Juliana's knee and Snape was holding a book. Clearly this was the whole Snape-reading-to-them-before-bedtime scenario which Hazel had spoken of earlier. Harry was not surprised to discover that the book was to be a muggle one - it was _Treasure Island _by Robert Louis Stevenson - and Harry found it extremely interesting. Snape read until eight o'clock and Harry found himself lost in the story and he hadn't realised how pleasant Snape's voice could sound in certain situations. At eight o'clock Snape and Juliana took Oliver and Hazel up to bed and Robin, Laura, Carlotta, Dominic and Alexander also stood to leave, heading towards the stairs, and Harry took his cue from Robin and left with them. Robin quietly explained on the way upstairs, "after eight o'clock we all have to stay in our rooms, reading, writing, whatever, just generally unwinding an getting ready for bed. Lights out for me is ten o'clock, I'm not sure about you, you're younger, you'd better ask Papa," and then Robin slipped into his room and Harry needed to find Snape.

He went into his own room and left his door open so that he could hopefully catch Snape on his way back downstairs. Hearing Juliana and Snape talking quietly further along the hallway, Harry went and stood nervously in his doorway. "Sir?" he tried quietly and Snape came into his room as Juliana carried on down the stairs. "Robin said I should ask you what time my lights out is," he said quietly.

"Hmm…" Snape appeared to be thinking for a minute. "Quarter to ten," he finally answered, "I don't expect to see any light or you up and out of bed after that time, understood?"

"Yes Sir," Harry answered quietly.

"Very well then. Good night Harry," Snape bade him.

"Good night, Sir," Harry replied. He had just bade Snape goodnight! Oh well, it had been the polite thing to do. Harry walked across the room and shut his dark blue curtains before dropping onto his bed with a sigh. It had been a very long day. Deciding to change into his pyjamas then, Harry done just that and turned the main light in the room off, just leaving the lamp on the nightstand on and collapsing onto his bed - above the duvet - on his stomach, he took the plain muggle notebook out of the draw of the nightstand, flipped to the first page which was as blank as the rest of the book, picked up a biro pen and began to write.

He wrote for what seemed like a long time, and when Harry next checked his watch he saw that it was quarter past nine, he had half an hour before lights out. Feeling nice and relaxed he replaced the notebook into the draw and then padded across the room to the bookshelf and picked up the copy of _Hogwarts, A History _and decided that he would read until lights out. Once his half an hour was up, he dutifully returned it's book to it's place on the shelf and then crawled into the bed, which was nice and soft. He idly wondered whether or not any one - meaning Snape or Juliana - would check to see if he was in bed and that his light was turned out. At the beginning of the day, Harry would of argued that the bedtime was much to early, but now that it was his bedtime he found his eyes beginning to drift close and he was powerless to resist and he succumbed to sleep.


	4. Chapter 4

Harry woke the next day when he heard someone go down the stairs. Squinting at the clock on his bedside table he saw that it was only 6.15 and he rolled back over, pulling his bed covers more tightly around himself. Despite the fact that it was summer, he was cold. He didn't go fully back to sleep, but merely dosed on and off, in a half awake, half asleep state, until Jason came into his room at 6.45 and told him that it was time to get up and that breakfast was at 7.30, so he had time to shower before Jason had shown him where the shower was, Harry gathered the clothes he wanted to wear together, making sure to include a hooded sweatshirt. He was really enjoying wearing hand-me-downs from Robin, as opposed to hand-me-downs from Dudley, and they were the first clothes apart from his school uniform and his Weasley jumpers that actually fit him. The nice warm shower did make him feel a bit better and warmer, and he had had the water so hot that his glasses were steamed up, but he still pulled the blue sweatshirt on, still feeling a slight chill.

Making his way down to the kitchen a few minutes later, Harry saw that Oliver looked as bad he was feeling, and was clearly acting fussy. Snape had placed him in a chair and told him to be quiet and to stop distracting his mother, and Harry figured that the small boy must not be fully awake yet. In many ways Harry saw the Potions Professor he knew from Hogwarts in Snape's actions and words to Oliver, but in other ways he was very different, with a mellower, gentler feel to his actions. Taking a seat on the opposite side of the table, it was now no surprise when Carlotta came and sat next to him. Everyone seemed very quiet this morning, and Oliver at least did not look very happy and Harry started to get a really bad feeling about the day. Breakfast was a quiet affair and Harry found that he couldn't eat much, he simply wasn't hungry. Not many people ate much, but Harry didn't notice, not feeling fully awake himself, although on reflection later he wondered why Snape and Juliana had not made people eat everything that was on their plates. After his introduction to the way the Snape family worked yesterday, he would have assumed that that was one of the unspoken rules. After breakfast everyone went their different ways and Harry found himself in a small sitting room with Robin, Carlotta and Hazel, of whom Robin had the job of looking after. None of them felt like doing much, Hazel was amusing herself with a teddy bear and Robin had had gotten out a collection of football magazines and told Harry to feel free to look at them, and Carlotta was curled up reading a book. It was a quiet, restful morning, something that Harry felt he needed and at times he found himself almost falling asleep.

Before he knew it, it was lunch time and everyone once again gathered in the kitchen, to the news that Oliver was in bed, with the flu, caught from the rainstorm which had soaked them the evening before. Harry noticed at this announcement that Jason looked slightly guilty, but felt pretty certain that Snape would not blame his oldest son for his youngest son getting sick because he got caught in a rainstorm whilst he was in charge. No one could have predicted that rainstorm, and Jason had done his best to get them all inside before the worst of the storm hit, and he had mostly succeeded. But this was Snape, so you never knew, Harry completely did not know what to expect from his Professor, he had no idea of how to react to his teacher acting so different from what he was used to. He had not really stopped to think about how his teacher felt about having one of his least favourite students suddenly invading his private life.

Lunch was another almost silent affair, although this time everyone was made to eat everything that was on their plates and Harry barely managed to choke his down. He was not hungry and his throat was beginning to hurt, but he somehow managed because he did not want to know the consequences of disobeying this new head-of -the-family father-figure Snape and because the food was good, possibly even better than Hogwarts food, and certainly better than what he was used to at the Dursley's house. Once everyone had finished eating, Laura and Carlotta cleared the table and started to wash the dishes, with Simeon being told to help them, as Juliana took Hazel upstairs to put her down for a nap and Snape went to check on Oliver. Harry escaped from kitchen and upstairs to his room, not really feeling in the mood for company, although he did wish he had one of the football magazines that Robin had lent him earlier, he just wanted some quiet time to be by himself and reading a magazine would be the perfect excuse. He stretched out on his bed, enjoying the coolness of the pillow and decided to just shut his eyes for a moment.


	5. Chapter 5

The next thing that Harry could remember clearly, was someone's cool hand touching his forehead. He didn't remember where he was, or what had happened. He struggled to open his eyes and sit up, but was gently and firmly pushed back down. "Easy, now," someone told him, in a voice that was vaguely familiar. "You've not been very well." And with that, Harry let his eyes close again as he drifted back off to seep. The next time he woke his head was a lot clearer and he didn't feel so fuzzy anymore. It wasn't so dark anymore, either. This time he was alone in the room and he pushed himself into a sitting position and stretched to reach the nightstand so that he could get his glasses. Putting his glasses on the room came clearly into view for what seemed to be the first time in a long time, and as he saw his 'Potter for President' banner on the wall he remembered that he was staying at Professor Snape's house for the summer. He looked at the clock on the nightstand and saw that it was just gone nine o'clock in the morning. He certainly hadn't been allowed to sleep in yesterday morning, he remembered that much about living with the Snape's, so why had he been allowed to now? He didn't really feel steady enough to get up out of bed to investigate this mystery, so he lay back down against his pillows and gazed towards the window, even though the curtains were must had dozed back off because the next thing he knew he was waking up again, and Professor Snape was sat on the edge of his bed. "Sir?" Harry tried to say, but it came out as more of a croak, as his throat was very dry and quite sore."You're awake," Professor Snape stated the obvious, but who was Harry to call him out on it? "Here, drink this," and he passed Harry a cup with some clear looking liquid in it. The liquid was just water, but four years worth of experience at school had taught Harry to be wary of Snape, and now he was wondering whether or not he had simply dreamt the last two days at Snape's house, where Snape had a family and was actually nice, because Snape had simply drugged him when he had found out that he was going to have to play babysitter for the summer holidays! "How are you feeling now?" Snape asked gently. Or maybe not… Snape still seemed to be acting nice enough."A bit strange," Harry managed to answer truthfully, after taking another sip of water. He struggled to sit up properly in bed, and Snape lent over to help him.

"That's to be expected," his Potions Professor told him. "You've had the same touch of flu that Oliver had, after getting caught in the rain the other night." Oliver? He was Snape's youngest son, so it looked like he hadn't dreamed all of Snape's family up after all. "You've slept most of it off now though, and I've given you a fever reducing potion." Harry just nodded. "You should try and stay awake for a while though, if you're feeling up to it, otherwise you'll never sleep tonight."

"Yes Sir," Harry acquiesced quietly. He still wasn't used to Snape sounding so parental. He wasn't used to Snape sounding parental with his own children, never mind when it was directed towards himself!

Snape patted him on the shoulder and then stood up to leave. Once he got to the door he turned round and looked at Harry once more. "I'll send Robin up, if you feel like company.""Yes please, Sir." Harry didn't particularly feel like sitting in his room by himself.

"Very well then, but you need to stay in bed and don't get too excited or worked up," his Professor told him sternly, sounding every bit like a school teacher and a father or nine, and Harry had a sudden, fleeting wish that he would act like this at Hogwarts. With that, Snape was gone, and Harry awaited the arrival of Robin, who he sensed was going to become his closest friend out of all of Snape's children.

Robin arrived not long after, carrying two glasses of pumpkin juice. Harry took his gratefully and idly watched as Robin tugged his desk chair over towards the bed. "Mind if I open the curtains, Harry?" he asked.

"Not at all," Harry told him, although he had to squint slightly as sunlight flooded the room.

"So, how are you feeling?" Robin asked him, settling down in the desk chair.

"Better than I was," Harry told him. He then looked down at the bed covers, before admitting, somewhat shyly; "I was starting to think I had been delirious and had imagined Professor Snape having children!"

To his immense relief Robin just laughed. "Yeah, from what we've heard from Mama and Papa, Papa acts pretty differently at Hogwarts."

It was still strange to hear Snape being referred to as Papa… "That's the understatement of the century!" Harry told Robin. "If I hadn't seen it with my own eyes, I would never have thought it possible for Professor Snape to act how he does!"

Robin laughed again, and Harry joined in, although his laughing soon turned into coughing. Robin looked on, slightly worried. "We'd better calm down," he told Harry, "Papa warned me not to over-excite you as you're still recovering."

"Yeah, I got the same warning as well," Harry told him, dabbing at his eyes with the edge of his sleeve, as they had starting to water when he was coughing."Yeah, but it'll be me who gets in trouble with Papa," Robin told him, "especially as you're ill.""It wouldn't stop the Professor Snape I know from having a go at me!" Harry told him with a small smile, but he saw the shocked look on Robin's face and began to realise that although Snape's children knew that he behaved differently around other people, the clearly didn't know how differently. Harry began to wonder how much they knew about their Father's background at all… especially the death eater part of it. Because he really didn't want to tell Robin anything which his parent's didn't want him knowing, which was a really strange thought, considering that Robin was older than him, and it was his parents, not Harry's, that they were on about here. "But we're not at Hogwarts now, so you never know," Harry added to brush over the awkward situation.

"Yeah," Robin agreed, also sensing how awkward it was and he looked around Harry's room to try and find inspiration for a different topic of conversation. "So, what are you running for President for?" he asked, spotting the banner.

"Oh," Harry said with a laugh. "It's a banner my friends made for my first Quidditch match.""You play Quidditch?" Robin asked eagerly.

"Yeah, I'm Seeker for Gryffindor's team. Do you play?"

"Usually I play Chaser. What type of broom do you have?" Clearly, like him, Robin could talk on and on about Quidditch, so Harry settled in for an enjoyable morning of talking about his favourite sport. Being ill didn't seem quite so bad at the moment!


End file.
